In the spinning of fibers, roving is drawn or drafted by a series of pairs of rollers, or by driven feed aprons in combination with pairs of driven rollers prior to the fibers' reaching the actual spinning devices.
Portions of the fibers and lint become detached from the roving during the drawing of the roving and the delivery or feedout rolls tend to accumulate such lint and small pieces of fibers and trash on their surfaces. This lint, trash and fibers will eventually build up into a ring all the way around the delivery roll and eventually break spinning ends. Scrapers, vacuum slots, etc. have been previously utilized in an effort to maintain the delivery rolls in a clean condition. The usual practice is to provide clearer rolls which bear against and rotate with the delivery top rolls. The clearer rolls are covered with material such as velvet, cork, etc. to give them a greater affinity for the short fibers and trash on the delivery rolls. Although these clearer rolls run for a number of days before they have to be cleaned, cleaning is required regularly to keep the lint and particles from falling back onto their work. The rolls are sometimes manually cleaned by an operator running a hand down the clearer rolls such that all material is rolled into a doughnut-shaped lint mass which then can be placed in a receptacle. However, such cleaning action is time-consuming.
Another prior procedure involved removing the clearer rolls one by one and replacing them with clean rolls. The dirty rolls are collected in a large container and transported to a location where they are individually cleaned with compressed air. However, this procedure also is time-consuming; and cleaning with compressed air directs more lint into the air, further aggravating an existing airborne lint condition.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,562,451 to Delepierre et al discloses an apparatus for stripping lint and fibers from the clearer rolls of a spinning frame as the apparatus advances slowly along the frame. An endless band of card clothing is displaced generally axially of the clearer rolls by means of cones which are in frictional engagement with the clearer rolls. However, the strip of card clothing must be periodically replaced by a clean strip; and, apparently, the cleaning apparatus would necessarily be periodically transported from one end of a frame to the other since the cleaning apparatus advances in the direction opposite to the apices of the cones.
Hand held cleaning devices including power-driven brushes for cleaning clothes, brushing hair and the like, are known, for example, as disclosed by U.S. Pat. Nos., 2,578,549; 3,079,627; 3,368,231 and 3,872,539. However, such conventional devices are impractical, inadequate and inconvenient for cleaning lint and fibers from the clearer rolls of textile spinning frames.
The present invention is directed to a new and improved small, lightweight, portable cleaning apparatus for readily and safely cleaning to maximum efficiency the clearer rolls as they rotate upon a spinning frame. A hand held, driven, high-speed flail device is combined with a suction mechanism to effectively strip fibers, lint or trash from the rolls and convey such materials to a collection receptacle. While the apparatus illustrated includes an electric motor for driving the flail device and a portable vacuum bag for collecting the waste and trash, it is to be understood that the flail device may be driven by a pheumatic motor, and the waste may be directed to a conventional vacuum cleaner or a central location.
One of the primary objects of the invention is the provision of a new and improved portable, lightweight, hand held device for cleaning waste material from clearer rolls rotating upon a spinning frame.
Another object of the invention is the provision of a clearer roll cleaner which is compact and convenient to use.
Still another object of the invention is the provision of a clearer roll cleaner which is safe and efficient in operation and inexpensive to manufacture and maintain.
A further object of the invention is the provision of a device which utilizes airflow and a flail action for rapidly stripping lint and waste material from the clearer rolls.
Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art during the course of the following detailed description of the invention.